South Korea 2015 Part 9 – Jeju!

December 29, 2015

This is part of an ongoing travelogue, to start at the beginning click here.

On Day 4 of our trip we flew from Seoul to Jeju for a 2D/2N stay. I booked my flight through EastarJet online, flying out from Gimpo. Getting to Gimpo from Myeongdong was quite easy, we took the Airport Limo Bus. We were actually running a little late, we did not realize the bus stopped at the international terminal. We had to take another feeder bus to the domestic terminal.

We finally made it to the check-in counter just in time, but fortunately the flight was delayed an hour. Gimpo international terminal is really busy with both locals and tourists.

So while waiting for our delayed flight, we went to the convenience store get our breakfast. We had a simple breakfast in our hotel in Myeongdong, but it was far too early in the morning. In the airport we bought some bulgogi French toast sandwich (top right), plain buns (left) and gimbap (bottom).

Flying to Jeju takes just under an hour. I booked a driver & car for both days and the guy was waiting for me at the arrival hall. For our 2 day trip in Jeju I really packed a lot of places to see, and our driver on day 1 (I think his name was Kim) was a really good and friendly driver.

We didn’t spend anytime in Jeju city, just passing through from and to the airport. From what I can see, it is a big city, but obviously not as big as Seoul. It is more laidback and not as compact.

From my online research, you can spend 7 days in Jeju and not see all the attractions worth seeing. So for our 2 days I concentrated more on the natural sights, and skipped most of the theme parks. On the first day we spend on the west side on the island, and the east side would be on the second day.

First stop on the itinerary was Dragon Head Rock, it was about 10 minutes from the Airport. At this point, it was drizzling quite heavily, and windy. Our driver prepared umbrellas for us, and dropped us right at the entrance to avoid getting wet. But it was quite a challenge to get a good shot while holding an umbrella in the wind.

Next up was Mysterious Road. You can google up this place, its a road with an optical illusion that makes you feel like the car is moving uphill while the engine is switched off.

(The locals call it devil Road, hence the statues)

Lunch time, our driver brought us to this fabulous pork noodles place. Its slices of 3 layer pork in a rich broth with noodles. You add sliced seaweed to it and the noodles come with all the side dishes like peanuts and kimchi. The broth was really rich and tasty, and we thoroughly enjoyed our first meal in Jeju. Unfortunately, I don’t know what’s the name of the restaurant (the sign is in Korean) but there are a few similar restaurants in Seogwipo’s Noodle Street.

Next up was OSulloc Tea Museum. The main attraction to come here is to try the green tea ice cream, but the building and tea museum is also worth the drive here.